Return
by HyuugaAE
Summary: Many years ago Uchiha Sasuke left, now he's back. He needs to find someone to help him to rebuild the Uchiha Clan, but who? Hinata x Sasuke story, SasuHina. Repost. R&R Review pls.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

**Hi everyone, this is my first time writing a fanfiction, I did my best, so I hope you guys like it. Please review, (I appreciate constructive critisism, please do not critisize without motivating, (eg. "This shit sucks" - without saying whhyyy...) Well have fun reading it:P (its a sasuhina story btw.)**

**I'm Back**

_He felt the wind blowing through his hair, the wind full of hope, fire and leafs. A wind he hadn't felt in 4 long years. He had missed it more then he ever would be willing to admit, had missed the environment, the safety, and even – did he dare say it? – the man he called his best friend. _

_He was scared, through all of these years being away, never being scared, not caring, after killing his brother, he was scared now. Scared of the rejection he knew would soon come, the rejection by the villagers was one thing, he could care less, the rejection of his old classmates, would sting but not enough worth mentioning. _

_No, Uchiha Sasuke was scared of rejection from the few people that actually accepted and respected him for whom he was, not just based on his looks. The rejection from his old sensei, Hatake Kakashi, but mostly the rejection from his old team-mate, the friend who never gave up and never stopped looking for him, he was scared of rejection from Uzumaki Naruto. _

_He was thinking these thoughts while standing on the hill, looking over the village from a distance, feeling the wind blow through his hair, he understood this was the last piece of freedom, being free from worries, he would have for a long time. Maybe even the last ever. He sighed one time, deeply. Then he slowly but decisively started making his way to the village he had so missed all this time. "Konoha, I'm back" he whispered silently to himself._

He kept walking, now closing in on the entrance gates. He was actually a little bit curious about how the guards would react when they saw him, Uchiha Sasuke - long time missing nin - just walking into the village. He wondered if they would just try to kill him immediatley, or maybe just beat him up badly and then throw him into prison to rot. When he thought these thoughts a small frown appeared on his face, making him almost miss the fact that he was at the gates now.

When he noticed this he just stood still, staring at the place he had missed so badly, yet never desired to return to before his mission was accomplished. He stayed like that for another couple of minutes before deciding he couldn't just stay out there all day, whatever was gonna happen would happen sooner or later anyway.

While having these thoughts in mind, he stepped into the village.

That day was a quite day, at least the ANBU-captain on guarding duty thought so far. He was resting against the wall into the village, while having his ANBU team scattered around to report in the hourly check. He was one of the youngest ANBU-captains Konoha had ever had, and even though he didn't boast about it, everyone knew he was quite proud to have accomplised this. While thinking about how everything had turned out fine for him, his team started reporting in.

"Hyuuga-sama, reporting in" his team-mate said, while bowing on his knee to his captain.

"What is it Shino?" the captain answered, even though he might have appeared relaxed and like he was not paying attention, the people who knew him knew it was the opposite.

"There is a missing-nin approaching the village, standing just outside the main gates, what are your orders?" The Aburame-nin quickly spoke.

"Which nin? But you are one of my best ANBU yet you don't start protocol immediatley, you know the protocol, so what makes this different?" Neji asked with interest, as he said Shino was one of his best ANBU and would no doubt start protocol immediatley, so something must really be special about this case.

"The nin in question is no other then Uchiha Sasuke" Shino's voice calmly spoke.

No more then 10 steps past the gate had he come, when he felt many different chakras approach him in a quick speed. He was actually surprised that they hadn't stopped him the second he stepped past the gates. He was alert, even though he had decided against fighting back, he just didn't want to be slaughtered the first thing when he came back.

"Drop your weapons Uchiha" A voice snarled to him. He saw the man, an ANBU-captain he noticed, that spoke to him. He knew he recognised the voice, he just couldn't place it, and obviously he couldn't see who it was since the man was hiding behind a mask.

"I will drop my weapons when you tell the two men behind me to stand down, I'm not here to fight." The Uchiha calmly stated while never breaking eye-contact with the captain.

_"Hmph, he is still as arrogant as he was when he left"_ The Hyuuga thought while smiling behind his mask, not showing the surprise he had that the last Uchiha actually sensed the two ANBU behind him, they were experts on masking their chakra, and could only be sensed by very skilled shinobi. He gave the signal for the men to stand down.

As soon as Sasuke sensed the men stepping down, he had no choice but to take of all of his weapons, he put his katana on the ground. As soon as it touched the ground he was pushed harsly from behind and felt shackles being places on his hand, he realised they were chakra-restrainers. He didn't struggle against it, accepting his fate while still keeping his pride.

He was quickly pushed away from the main street, and he was half-carried by the ANBU towards a big red building he recognized as the Hokage-tower.

"Leave!" The hard, yet feminine voice of the fifth ordered.

All the ANBU, including the captain, left the moment she spoke the word. Now it was just Tsunade and the last Uchiha left in the room. He looked straight at her, refusing to look at his feet like most people would do in his situation. No, Uchiha Sasuke was definetly not most people.

"So, you came back" Tsunade said with a grin on her face, while observing him closely.

Sasuke knew that even though she spoke lightly, there was no way he would get away with just a small reprimand.

"Hn" Was the only reply Tsunade got, and for some reason she smiled at this, even though she had never met the boy (for she still thought of him as a boy for he was not yet 18) she had heard a lot about him from the ninja in the village, especially the loud mouth blonde ninja with the name Naruto.

"Uchiha, you better sit down for it seems like we'll be in here for a little while" She said, still with a grin on her face for she knew what the reaction would be of the blonde brat, she could not wait to tell him. But first things first, the Uchiha's punishment.

The famous blonde ninja (or loud-mouth, which ever you prefer) was walking through the streets of Konoha, he had just returned from a mission, which he completed succefully with only a few scratches to show that he had actually been away. As usual he hurried through the streets to reach the Hokage tower so he could hand in his mission report, he always hurried when he came back, all because he wanted to go get his precious ramen at Ichiraku's. He hurried through the streets, saying hello to fellow ninjas he had teamed up with in previous mission, not suspecting that this day would be different from the other days he came back from a mission.

"Umph!" In his hurry, he hadn't been watching out where he was going and crashed into someone. While apologizing over and over, he reached his hand down to help whomever he had knocked over. He was surprised, however, when he saw that it was a girl with white eyes and raven hair he had knocked over and helped up. "H hina-chan, I'm soooo sorry!" He quickly apologized stuttering in his embarrassment, to the Hyuuga heiress.

When she realised it was Naruto who had knocked her over, she quickly blushed.

"It's ok Naruto, I'm sure you did not mean it, it was probably just as much my fault." She quickly smiled at him. He was as surprised as ever that she didn't stutter, even though she had gotten rid of it a long time ago, shortly after the Chuunin exams she got more confidence, and there the stutter went. Even though she was more confident, even around Naruto (her long-time crush), she could never help her endless blushing, which would explain why Naruto thought she had a constant fever and shouldn't be walking around... ever.

"Well, I'm sorry, I have to hurry to the Hokage office, returning my mission report, and then it's time for RAMEN!!" He yelled the last part out, pounding his fist in the air, and therefore scaring the shy heiress who stumbled back a little bit. She smiled up at him, even though she was taken by surprise with his sudden yelling, she felt her always-there admiration for him bubble up again.

"Hey, Hinata, would you like to join me for ramen maybe?" Naruto asked, even though he was not especially close to the white eyed Hyuuga, she was good company and he didn't want to be lonely today, he always got like this after a mission, because he would remember the times when him and team 7 still did missions together and always went for ramen after it was completed. It was painful for him to be alone after missions now, especially since Sakura was so busy in the hospital all the time, and Sasuke... well you know.

Hinata taken aback by this sudden request just stood gaping at him for a second before she realised what she was doing. She blushed (yes, it's possible for her to blush even more) but still managed to nod her head, accepting his offer.

"Ok then! I just have to bring this to the Hokage's office, and then ramen it is!" Naruto said, while he started walking towards the red building in the centre of town, pulling Hinata along by holding her sleeve.

After a short while he released her sleeve and they continued to walk, she quickly hid her disappointment and focused on keeping up with him, for he was still in a hurry and didn't bother slowing down just because he had company now. He told her about his mission, while she listened, paying attention to every word he said and smiling up at him.

"Naruto! Hinata!" A sudden voice was heard over the crowd, and a pink haired kunoichi appeared, waving at the two.

"Hi Sakura-chan" Naruto said while giving her a hug. She just smiled at him while giving the shy Hyuuga heiress a hug as well. "Sakura-san" was all Hinata could exclaim before she was almost crushed to death in the heart-warming hug Sakura just gave her, Sakura sometimes forgot her own strength when it came to hugs and things like that, it was because she was Tsunades apprentice it was demanded that she possessed power like that for self-protection.

"So, where are you guys headed?" Sakura asked, while walking with them.

"Tsunades office, returning a mission report, how about you?" Naruto told her, while continuing walking at a fast pace, Hinata followed, a little less then a step behind the two. She didn't like feeling like a bother, so she kind of stepped out of the way, believing they wouldn't notice anyway. Even though she had built more confidence, she still had trouble sometimes to not feel like a nuisance. When people tried talking to her about it, she just brushed them off, unconsciously making her friends angry at her father, for they knew that he had something to do with her confidence-problems, with the way he raised her and all.

"Oh! I walk you, I need to talk to her about a patient, he has been giving me so much trouble. Denying us helping him, he had this fractured rib that when he..." As Sakura continued telling the story about the patient fracturing his rib and refusing some types of treatment, Hinata couldn't help staring at the person she was walking next to, even though Sakura was a very good friend of her, she was little bit sad that she didn't get to spend the time alone with Naruto like she wanted.

It was true that maybe her crush had dimnished a bit over the years (even though she was not fully aware of that), she still admired him greatly and wanted his attention, she sometimes envied Sakura because she was beautiful, had all Naruto's attention, and was very clever (and a good kunoichi). In that way Hinata was a bit naive, she did not believe that she was those things Sakura was, even though most of the male population in Konoha would dissagree immediatly if she would mention it to anyone.

They had finally arrived at the Hokage tower and entered together. They followed Naruto's usual routine, just stepping into Tsunade's office before knocking.

"Tsunade obaachan! Here's my mission report!" He put the report on her table and smiled at her. She was a bit surprised and scared of how Naruto would react by finding out that Sasuke was back in this way. After no response from Tsunade, he turned around looking at the door, not understanding why Hinata and Sakura didn't follow him. They saw that both had frozen in the entrance and were staring at the same spot in the room.

He followed there gazes and suddenly understood their shocked expressions.

On the chair he saw the man he had been looking for, for 4 years now, sitting calmly, smirking up at him. The man he had dreams about retrieving, helping to get back to the village. The man he never gave up on, the one he thought never would try to hurt him.

Yes, Naruto was a bit naive about the last part, but still he was baffled about seeing the man he looked for so long, just sitting there. In the background he heard a faint thud, Sakura fainting (he didn't realise that was what had happened until later), and Hinata worrying about her. No, Naruto could only focus on one thing now, the man sitting in front of him, staring at him, with a smirk.

Underneath that smirk he noticed the worry in the young Uchiha's eyes. The worry about being accepted back, he knew those eyes all too well, he had had them when he was still a kid and all the villagers had frowned upon him. He was in shock, otherwise he would have been making so much more noise instead of just standing there gaping. For the first time in his life, he really did not know what to say, think or do. He just looked at the man in shock while he whispered silently.

"Sasuke-teme..."

**So this was it, the first chapter (I might rename it, and the story later, we shall see). So what did you guys think? Please review, I want to hear thoughts and constructive critisism. This first chapter is not really about the romantic story yet, as you can see, more of an introduction of How Sasuke comes back to Konoha. The next chapter will have more of that, more of an outline to the story.**

**So thanks for reading anyway, see you next time;)**

**Huggies...**

**(And yes, I know I havent updated for two weeks, From next week I will update every week AT LEAST, probably maybe every three days, depending on my school, test week is coming up sooo... , well just wanted to tell you this because I have been busy, vacation so being abroad, studying and other such nuisances. But I will be back...)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Here is a new chapter, I promise to better myself with the updates, you can expect one every week, Im sorry! I hope this story is not crap so please review so I know!!!:D**

**After the meeting.**

The last Uchiha was wandering through the streets of Konoha for the first time in years as a free man, well as free as you can be when you have to have a guard following you around constantly. He turned his head a little bit to the side to see that his old sensei was still following him while reading his orange perverted book. He kept walking through the streets of Konoha, passing the academy which was one of the few places in Konoha he actually still felt a small connection to. He remembered sitting in one of the bigger trees hiding from fangirls and thinking about how to become a stronger ninja to finally beat his brother.

He continued walking through the streets, his thought back to his brother and all events that had shaped him, making him the man he was today. He realised that if it weren't for his brother then he would not be in the situation he is in right now. While he though this he looked back at the man following him again, and remembered the odd scene that had displayed itself in the Hokage's tower less then an hour ago.

"_Sasuke-teme" the dobe spoke. That one moment just froze for him while just looking up at his former best friend. Sasuke was vaguely aware of that Sakura had just fainted and a girl looking oddly familiar was now worrying about his old team mate. After a few seconds that seemed like eternity Tsunade seemed to start moving again and pulled Naruto roughly out of her office, he saw that the pink-haired kunoichi had just been carried away by one of the guards who were always present at the office._

_Tsunade closed the door behind her, which left the Uchiha in the office all by himself. He looked around the room and thought it mildly surprising that they trusted him to be alone in there, he knew there were a lot of important documents to Konoha in that room, and he was half-seriously pondering whether or not he should take a look, but realised that that might just destroy the whole 'coming-to-Konoha-to-gain-back-trust-and-restore-my-family-thing.'_

_While looking out the window with only a superficial interest, he saw the entire market place of Konoha, he saw the kids running around the streets and the newly made genin playing with their kunai uncarefully. Surprisingly everything he saw, seemed so oddly... normal. He wasn't really used to living a normal life anymore, or ever really. As a kid he had always done everything to please his father, he had been under unusual pressure which only the highest clans in Konoha expose their children to. After the massacre he had lived the rest of his life to kill the person responsible. And what now?_

_He had only just started reminiscing about what he would do with his life when suddenly a cloud of grey smoke appeared in front of him. Since he had been a ninja all his life, his instinct quickly stepped in, he started searching for a kunai, but to his dismay he noticed he didn't have it in the usual place. Then he realised that it had been taken away from him when the ANBU arrested him. 'Well I'll just have to go the real ninja way' he quickly thought to himself when he readied himself to start a fight._

_It was a quiet odd train of thought, he was, after all in the Hokage's office, no one knew he was there except for the ANBU, Tsunade and his old team-mates. Why would someone just appear in the office, randomly attacking? Well, it was only natural for Sasuke to react this way, after all he had been on the run for more then 4 years, always protecting his back. He turned to face the man now standing in front of him._

"_Yo" his old sensei greeted with his small wave and famous eye-crinkle. "Hn" Sasuke smirked, laughing (internally of course) at the fact that his sensei looked the exact same way as when he left all those years ago, while he quickly relaxed his muscles that had unconsciously tensed in defence. He noticed that Kakashi even had his always present 'adult' novel with him, only this time it was the newest edition of the book the most perverted ninja of Konoha wrote._

_They did not have time to interact more then their short acknowledgement, not that they would have anyway, before the door opened again and Tsunade stepped back into her office with a slight smile on her face.._

"_Ah! Kakashi, glad you could join us, I have a task for you!" She stated immediately after noticing the copy-nin, while walking towards her desk and sitting on the chair belonging to it. After hearing about the 'task' both men were midly surprised (though not showing it of course) that she would choose Hatake for such a job._

"_Your task will be to guard the Uchiha here, all the time. He will have to live in your apartment of course, which is only natural." After hearing this, Hatake just nodded, accepting the orders. "You will not let him out of your sight without getting a replacement first, and this will go on until the village considers you someone worth trusting" She spoke to Sasuke who didn't show any recognition of hearing her. After seeing this Kakashi muttered something that sounded suspisciously much like "troublesme", but Tsunade just dismissed it while wearing a grin on her face._

_"Now, any further questions?"_

_"if the village deems me trustworthy, will I be able to return as an active shinobi?" Sasuke silently asked._

_"I don't see why not, but it might take a while before you will be deemed completely trustworthy to represent Konoha as a ninja, we have a reputation you know? Now, if there is nothign further, the two of you are dismissed." She stated, while turning her gaze onto her desk, staring at some document that she was made sign. With this last order, the two men left the office, the younger trailing behind the older, neither speaking a word._

Which is what lead to the two men walking through the streets of Konoha in silence, on their way to Kakashi's apartment.

While walking Sasuke was deeply engrossed in the same thoughts he had had in Tsunade's office, about what he was going to do now he was back, of course he had one goal in life left, to continue the Uchiha bloodline, but even he knew that there was no such hurry and he could not live the rest of his life just trying to reproduce constantly.

Because he continued to ponder about what he was going to do he almost missed the fact that Kakashi had stopped, it wasn't until Kakashi said his name he realised that they had arrived.

They were standing still in front of a four-story high, grey building. The building looked a bit shabby, and he silently wished that the inside looked better.

He quickly examining the building, or as much as he could see from it so far, and he realised he would not really have expected something better from Kakashi. The man was not known for his big preference of luxury and comfort. Rather cheap and simple would fit him. Kakashi had started moving towards the building, pressing the entrance code.

After standing out there for a bit longer, examining his home for the next God-knows-how-long temporary home, he walked through the door being held open for him, walking to a new life.

It was two weeks after the scene in the Hokage's tower, and the news that the Uchiha had returned to Konoha had spread itself through the village within a day. And even though he had been back for a while now, it was all the village could talk about. The girls (especially the ones Hinata's age) just forgot about that he was the traitor of the village and welcomed him with open arms.

They acted like they were 12 again, following him everywhere, poor guy, he had a massive amount of stalkers, and they weren't even getting punished for it!

For most other villagers, even though people started accepting that he was back, he was still a traitor, and many people weren't that forgiving. For the elder he was just a traitor, and the younger men (or boys), were not too happy since many of the girls had lost interest in them now they saw something better.

His most loyal followers (as they liked to call themselves) consisted of almost the same group as the one that had followed him in his academy days, with the leader being no other then his former team mate, Haruno Sakura.

She popularity increased a lot during this time, since most girls considered that she could get them close to him, even though she had the most chance of getting together with him since she was his former team mate and all. She let most people believe what they wanted, not contradicting them when they said that she was very close to the Uchiha due to their team-bond.

She had quickly figured out that this made a few of the more "decent" girl back off, since they weren't ones to be boyfriend-stealers and such. But for most girls this did not matter (to her great frustration), they continued to drool about him shamelessly.

So far none of them had actually gotten any success, nothing had changed from the academy days, they follow him, try to pretty much give themselves to him, while he just shrugges them off as annoynig fangirls he wants nothing to do with.

The thing was that this was giving the Uchiha trouble with some of his fellow ninja, the male ones. Since they did not want to see the girls hurt, and they just wanted him to pick someone, so that they could have the ones he did not pick. Sasuke had to agree that some of them grown up to be very beautiful, not to speak of his old team mate, the cherry blossom. But he also knew that he wanted something less shallow, and that none of that could give him that, so he just dismissed them all as annoying.

Hinata was walking through town, after just having said goodbye to her team mates for the mission, and handing in the latest mission report. It was a A-rank mission, one of the few she had actually had so far, after making it to Jounin only two months ago. Of the rookie nine the only ones being jounin right now were, Shikamaru (he was the one to go first since the rest had to catch up becoming a chuunin), Shino and her.

She was happily surprised when she got the news, and decided to work even harder now that she would take on harder missions, to not risk the lives of her team mates and herself unneccessarily.

After making it jounin she found out that she would be placed on different teams quite often, meaning she would not spend as much time with Shino and Kiba, which saddened her a bit. Therefore she was quite relieved that Shikamaru had made jounin, since she was placed on the same team quite often and it relieved her to be with someone she knew a bit, since she was quite shy around strangers.

Many people were surprised that Hinata became jounin before Sakura or any of the other kunoichi from their year, which hurt her feelings quite badly even though she refused to show it. Tsunade even explained to a few people that even though Sakura was great medic and a strong Kunoichi, Hinata was no less, and even stronger in a few fields.

People just blamed/gave credit to her byukagan for the promotion, but Tsunade and Hinata both knew better that that was not entirely true, she was strong despite her blood line.

While thinking back on her promotion, she started smiling happily and continued walking home to the Hyuuga compound.

When she finally reached home, she entered the kitchen to make dinner together with the cooks. Yes her family had cooks, but she enjoyed cooking so the cook tought her how to make many things, and nowaday she would often help him, or just make something for herself. When she was just being explained how to make the soup a bit thicker, when her father came through the door, which was an odd sight, since he didn't show himself often in the kitchen.

"H-hello F-f-father" Hinata stuttered, even though she got rid of her stutter around most, around her father she could just not help herself, and she quickly looked down at her feet to hide her embarassment.

"Hinata, a main-family member should not be cooking" He reprimanded her while giving her a stern look. "Anyway, we are hosting the annual festive-ball here in two months, I was just notified by Tsunade sama, and it is an excellent opportunity for us to- ", he quickly reprimanded himself from what he was going to say.

"So I wanted to go through what kind of preparations we will need with the kitchen staff." He stated, while everyone started going around. Hinata saw this as her chance to slip away unnoticed, and she quickly went up the stairs to her room. She did not like being around her father more then absolutely required, he was a quite intimidating man after all, even to his relatives and especially to her.

'So the festival will be held here, I wonder who will come?' She quietly thought to herself, getting quite excited when she thought about the fact that she had a reason to go dress shopping. Yes, Hinata was very different from most girls in Konoha, but she couldn't deny that even she had some girly urges sometimes, and dress shopping was definitely one of those.

**Im sorry, I know this is not such a long chapter, and nothing has really happened yet, no SasuHina moments yet, next chapter, I promise! This is because I felt I needed some kind of background info. about how things are with Hinata, and also explain Sasukes punishment.**

**I changed this chapter, for people who read it before and hated it, I hope it became better, let me know what you think, please! R&R**

**So anyway, this weekend, next update!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Chapter 3

A few days after the announcement that the annual festival would be held at the Hyuuga mansion, Hinata was walking through town.

She had already spoken to her best friends and told them about the ball that was one of the main components of the festival, which most ninja attended, and would be held at the Hyuuga mansion, and they had decided time to go shoe-and-dress shopping together. Of course waiting for Tenten to return from her mission.

It saddened Hinata a little bit that, now that she was jounin, all the girls had different schedules so they could rarely spend time together.

Sakura worked most of her time in the hospital, only going on rare missions, this was because she excelled at being a medic, and was only the average ninja, so the best use of her was in the hospital, where she was really needed.

Tenten on her turn, had many missions with the original team Gai, they had all made jounin at the same time, which is why they still stayed as their original team. All members on the team were also viewed as some of the people with most chance of becoming an ANBU within the following year, so none of them had time to slack off.

As we know, Hinata had become a jounin as well, but rarely had missions with Tenten for the above-named reasons, she however, was often teamed up with Shikamaru, Kakashi or Genma. Whom, to Hinata's delight, behaved like real gentlemen when on missions, and they treated her like a little sister, so she had grown close to the men very quickly in the past few months.

All this left Ino, whom still as a chuunin was teamed up with other people and sent on easier missions, and in her spare time she worked at the Yamanaka's flower shop.

So, combine all these things, they all led to that the girls saw each other less, and slowly started expanding their friend group, since they could not hang around together much.

Today was especially one of those days that Hinata missed her friends and her old teammates, she was, simply put... bored. Strolling through Konoha in hope of finding something to occupy her time with.

She passed Ichiraku's ramen shop, and quickly tried to find the loud-mouth blonde, but he wasn't there to keep her company, she thought she remembered him speaking about a mission with Chouji and Ino, which would also rule out going to the flower shop to find company with the blonde. Hey! If you can't get Ino to come to you, you've got to go to her right? Well that plan would obviously not work then.

So instead of just wasting the rest of her day searching company, she decided to go buy some ingredients to bake some brownies for later and also to bring to the sleepover the girls had planned for after the shopping (it was a tradition, that when they were all gathered together for shopping, they would sleepover at one of the girls' houses, and gossip all night long, it originated from the girls having so much pain in their feet after shopping that no one wanted to walk all the way back to their own houses, hence the sleepover.)

She hurried towards the market place, now after the dissappointing trip to town, she did not want to waste more time just wandering around. She passed many of the local shops she usually liked to take a look into, just not today.

She saw several faces she recognised from the mission room, but did not know personally. This made her thoughts once again wander back to her friends, causing her to not pay attention to where she is going.

"Omph!" She had knocked into someone, and fell on the groud. 'This is what you get for not paying attention Hinata' she thought to herself. While thinking this the person she had just walked into turned around and exclaimed a loud "Hinata!".

She turned her face upwards, to face the person she had walked into, when she saw who it was she quickly took the hand that was outstretched towards her, and gave the person a hug. "Kakashi-sensei, gomen nasai!"

Kakashi and her had gone on many missions together in the past few months, she had been on the team with him, Genma and Shikamaru several times, for the wonderful combination of their skills. Her byakugan was an excellent complementary to his nin-dogs. He had quickly warmed up to her, more than he ever had done towards his students, I mean, who wouldn't like the shy Hyuuga-heiress.

"Don't worry Hina-chan" Kakashi answered, using the regular nickname the group had started using for her whenever they saw her. To her he was like an uncle she never knew, while Genma was the overprotective brother, and Shikamaru was the passive brother who she knew she could relie upon no matter what.

"So, what are you doing here all alone Kakashi-sensei? Shouldn't you have Sasuke with you here?" She asked with a sly smirk, Kakashi knew that she was making fun of him, laughing at his misery of having to take care of a teenager, especially someone as stuboorn as Sasuke. But at the same time it made him happy to see how comfortable she had gotten around him. No more stuttering, and openly mocking, he knew that she did not do this with many people and it made him happy that she was more outgoing then before.

"Njae, Sasuke is being babysat by Sakura and Naruto, I just returned from a mission so that is why." Kakashi said with an evil smirk, he knew that Sasuke did not want to be stuck with Sakura and Naruto all day long, of course he had missed them a little bit, but it is always easier to forget the bad parts when you have been gone for a long time, and unfortunately for him, Sakura was still bugging him as much as she used to.

"Speaking of Sasuke" Kakashi continued, "Are you doing anything tomorrow night?" Kakashi asked with a pleading face. Hinata felt he looked so sad, so she just asked "why?". Kakashi was laughing a little on the inside, it was so easy to play Hinata, even though they both knew that he was playing her, she just played along, and kakashi would never ever make her do something she did not want to.

"Could you maybe babysit tomorrow? I've finally managed to get a date, but now I am stuck with Sasuke, but I really do not want to cancel, but you really do not have to?" He added that so she did not have to feel that it was an obligation. She did however see, how much he really wanted to go on a date, it had taken him a long time to get over his fright of getting close to people again since they all seemed to be leaving him right after. Obito, Rin, his father.

It really made them closer, the entire group shared their stories, ánd the rare thing is that neither really had a good background, well excluding Shikamaru, but he did not count. Genma had had an abusive father, Kakashi lost so many people he loved, and Hinata had the whole situation with being an heiress.

"Hey, Kakashi, do not tell me you are going to let Hinata alone with the last Uchiha? If anything, I'll come with her, we need to catch up anyway, and I am not crazy, I know how boys that age are!" Genma said, glaring a bit at Kakashi before giving a Hinata a friendly hug.

"Ano, Im sure I can handle it" Hinata said, while trying to sound as confident as she could, at the same time accepting the offer to go to babysit, even though she was quite sure she would not be that comfortable with the Uchiha around, she wanted to prove that she was a capable kunoichi and could handle such a simple task.

"Hinata, Genma has a point, even though you do not see it, I will not let you babysit alone, we don't know what he might do to such an innocent and sweet girl as yourself" This caused Hinata to blush and turn her head down.

"So, I'll see you two tomorrow at say, 7.00 at the apartment?" kakashi said, while walking away taking out his orange novel and reading while walking.

Genma took his leave soon after, saying something about meeting with Raidou at the gym, and catching up later.

With a sigh, and a smile gracing her lips, Hinata took off on her way home, not caring about the groceries, deciding that she could need some practice herself as well.

She headed home and started training, today's training consister of increasing spead, target practice and reading about preventing people to leave from a battle, basically everything needed for a guarding job, even though she believed that having Genma there would make it all easier, and honestly she did not think that Sasuke would be foolish enough to try and run.

'Well I guess I will have to see about that' she thought to herself, while throwing another shuriken in the middle of the target, without making a big effort.

**I'm sorry this update is so late, a lot of things going on, i will try to update soon (with a longer chapter, I feel I owe you guys), but test week is coming up, so I will see what to do it then, soon in is Christmas holidays!! (5 weeks or something), and then ill be updating MUCH! But before then about 4 chapters I think, I hope, and I shall try**

**Until then....**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_**Chapter 4. Babysitting**_

Hinata woke up with a start, breathing heavily. She stood up and went to the shower, trying to just forget the nightmare she had just had. She should have been used to it by now, having some kind of nightmare at least twice a week since she was a little girl. But even if you say that, to some extent she would always wake up shaken.

She walked into the shower, reaching for her shampoo, when she remembered that today she would have to go to Kakashi's apartment. Realising this she sighed a little, feeling it was a bit troublesome. Silently she thanked Kami that Genma would be there, she wouldn't have known what she would have done otherwise.

After her quick shower, she put on her regular training clothes, baggy dark sweatpants and an oversized white sweater. She walked down to the kitchen to get some food before she went training.

When she got to the kitchen the cooks had already prepared breakfast, usually she would make her own food, but when she was late like today there was always food ready, and she couldn't deny that the cook made absolutely amazing food.

She sat down and ate her pancakes in silence, thinking about different training exercises she could do during today's training, when someone else joined her at the table.

"Hinata." Neji's firm voice sounded. Immediately she looked up, this was not normal behaviour for Neji, he usually would not sound that serious, he was a morning person and it was usually the only time he was really relaxed (when not meditating at least)

"Hai, Neji-niisan" her soft voice replied, looking up at him, the concern evident in her face. Neji looked down at her, softening his hard features that had burned themselves onto his skin. The two of them had grown much closer after the Chuunin Exams, he could never help but still feeling guilty about it when she had to tell him over and over again, that it was alright and it was in the past.

After the exams, Neji had sort of moved on, and resolved some issued with Hiashi, they got the grudges out of the way, though Neji now instead started to despise him for how he treated his daughter, he could clearly see how his behavior affected the Hyuuga heiress's already lacking confidence. He never confronted his uncle though, figuring that that would be pushing their already straining relationship, and as long as Hinata was happy (which she was despite her father treating her in a very unlike-fatherly way) he would be happy too.

Neji and Hinata had developed a close bond, he couldn't help himself to warm up to that sweet innocent girl who actually never had harmed him, and now he acted as her guardian, a protector if you would like. He became quite overprotective, especially when it came to her fan boys, which he made a big deal out of that she never knew about.

"It has come to my understanding that you are to guard the Uchiha boy tonight." It wasn't much of a question but Hinata understood the underlying meaning.

"Hai Neji-nisan, that is correct." She stated softly, a small smile gracing her pale face.

"Hinata! How could you accept such a thing, you need to cancel, I know you hate cancelling and I would go in your place if I didn't have a mission, but this is unacceptable, what would your father say if he ever found out about this?" Neji spoke with an upset voice (well upset for being Neji), a voice he would rarely use around anyone else than Hinata or his teammate / girlfriend: Tenten

Hinata's small smile didn't falter, instead she just reached out to his hand and looked him in his eyes, he immediately calmed down a bit, it was a gift she had on the calm and stoic men she had around herself, not many women could do something to reach the same effect.

"Don't worry Neji, I won't be alone, Genma-san will accompany me. But even if he were not, I would go, I am a jounin now too you know, I can take care of myself, even though the Uchiha is on a sannin-level, I am not the useless little girl anymore" Her smile had maken place for a more solemn expression, while she lifted herself from her seat and proceeded to move towards they Hyuuga training grounds.

Neji stared at her back while she was walking away_, "Oh Hinata-sama, I have no doubt about your capability, of course you can handle it, you can handle anything you would want as long as you put your heart to it. It's just that you don't understand that boys your age see you in a particular way, I don't, - no, I __won't__ let you get hurt because of some trivial boy, no less the Uchiha."_

With those thoughts, he also left the kitchen, making a mental note to speak with Genma to remind him to take extra care of her, while he was away on his mission.

Hinata was punching the wooden pole with a controlled strength, getting bored quite quickly. She didn't mind training alone, but right now her condition was in top form, and she kind of needed someone to spar against.

Feeling this was a waste of time (she had been doing it for more than an hour anyway), she packed up her stuff to head back to the main house. After cleaning up, she decided to read some materials she hadn't had time to read before, and also fill out those reports that were due in two days.

That evening at around 6 she decided it was time to get ready for her 'babysitting', her and Genma would meet each other at Kakashi's apartment, where they would make some dinner, so she wouldn't have to eat dinner at home. She didn't particularily mind, for she knew that her father was having some important high ranked guests over, and she knew it would just be some boring polite dinner party, something she would probably have to endure a lot in the future anyway, especially with her turning 18 in a few months.

She walked through her walk-in closet, trying to find something appropriate, yet still casual to wear. She did not like to wear her regular clothes on such an occasion, as she felt those clothes should only be worn during a work-out or mission.

After looking through her options for a few minutes she finally decided on a pair of simple faded grey jeans, together with a dark blue baggy sweater, she had gotten used to wear more revealing clothes hanging out with Ino more, but she always came back to the baggy sweaters, they made her feel cozy and comfortable. She brushed her hair once more and looked in the mirror deeming that she looked ok for a babysitting session.

Before Hinata finished dressing completely she attached her kunai holster on the outside of her jeans. She had already added a small knife at her ankle, and had a belt with shuriken and some other things she could need in case she was called in for an emergency.

She grabbed her dark-green messenger bag and putting it on her shoulder, she headed for the door, she had counted that she would arrive at the apartment at 6.50, a bit on the early side, but she liked being early. Especially since she suspected that Kakashi might need help with bringing the correct gift for his date, sometimes men could be such a disaster when it comes to women, she thought while chuckling to herself.

She walked through the centre of Konoha, Doing something she didn't do too often alone after 6 pm, she started thinking about how it would be with the Uchiha there. _'I wonder if he still rememberes me, eh, probably not. I mean I was all quiet and shy in the academy days, it wouldn't be strange at all if he doesn't even know my name.'_ she thougth with a small sigh to herself. Sighing because of the fact that she could not have more confidence in herself, once again she found herself envying Sakura and Ino, even Tenten had more confidence then her, _'what am I thinking, of course Tenten has more confidence than me, she is the most confident kunoichi in Konoha'_ Hinata smiled at her thoughts.

She continued moving through the streets, seeing a bunch of men hanging out right outside one of the local bars, not paying any mind to them she continued walking. After she had passed them she heard one of the men wolf-whistling to a girl, while the other men started laughing.

_'heh, she must be quite the girl to get men to whistle to her just passing through town, I wonder who she is' _but she didn't want to turn her head to look, finding it rude to intrude in someone else's business.

She continued walking, reflecting upon her non-existent love life, and sighed a bit. _"Come on Hina, now is not the time to get all depressed about this, you are going to hang out with Genma (and Sasuke) tonight, you can handle this."_ She started smiling brightly and walked into Kakashi's neighbourhood.

Finally reaching Kakashi-sensei's apartment she knocked on the door, expecting to see Kakashi. However, her face showed surprise when it was Sasuke who opened the door, with a scowl on his face.

"Uhm, ano.., Kakashi invited me o-over." Hinata quietly stated, looking past Sasuke into the apartment, in hopes of finding Kakashi there. Luck was on her side today, for he appeared right behind Sasuke, with his hair still wet from his shower, and his ever present mask adorning his face.

"Hi Hinata-chan! Just ignore Sasuke here for being so rude, he is just grumpy since he can't go out with such a fine lady as me" The last part was said with Kakashi totally becoming a radiating sun, even though they couldn't see his smile, the knew... they just knew...

"Hn, you wish" Was Sasuke's monotone answer, while he turned his back on them and moved into the apartment. Kakashi motioned for Hinata to follow him, and she also went into the apartment, closing the door after her.

She waited on the sofa while Kakashi finished getting dressed, Sasuke had vanished the moment she came into the apartment. She looked around the apartment, it was not huge, but was certianly fit for two people. The living room was attached to the small yet cozy kitchen. Momentarily she was sitting on one of the two sofa's in the livingroom, the living room also consisted of a coffee table, two book cases, a new TV (she knew it was new, since it hadn't been there when she was there about two months ago, she figured it probably had something to do with the fact that Sasuke was living there now.)

The other parts she could see at that moment were four closed doors, and the entrance to the apartment. One door she knew was the bathroom, a rather luxury one if she could say so herself, she knew Kakashi liked comfort, and no doubt picked this apartment just because of the bathroom. Another door was a broomcloset, one was Kakashi's room as she had just seen him dissappear in there, and the last, she guessed while lingering her gaze on the door, must be Sasuke's room.

She didn't noticed when Kakashi came back fully dressed, looking very handsome dressed in something else than the usual. He noticed her gaze lingering on the door leading to Sasuke's room. "You don't need to worry, Genma will be here soon enough, and he should not be a bother" He assured her putting a hand softly on her shoulder.

She was startled from her thoughts, and a small "eep!" ensued,, then she turned red from embarassment for letting her guard down, especially considering it was her superior.

Though right before she could reply anything, a knock sounded on the door, and Kakashi went to open the door for Genma. _' few! Saved by the bell...'_ Was all Hinata could think, before Genma came right in and gave her a bone-crushing hug.

When Genma let go, Hinata had a small smile adorning her face, they turned towards Kakashi who was now about ready to leave for his date, after just coming back from the Uchiha's room, probably telling him something like to not cause trouble, or whatever he said.

"Hinata, there is food in the kitchen, don't be scared to use anything, if you don't want to cook then let Sasuke make his own dinner. Genma, make sure things go alright." The last part was added with a more serious tone, making it seem to Hinata they had talked about this before, but she just brushed it of as nothing.

With that said, Hinata gave him a shy hug, and whispered a quick good luck to him. Genma only waved at him from the couch.

Genma and Hinata had been watching TV for about an hour now, still not having seen a sight of Sasuke, though both could tell he was in his room with all the chakra patterns and all. They were watching Greys Anatomy, Hinata's pick and Genma just went along with it since he knew it would be the episode where Izzie would have a break-down and pretty much strip until only her underwear was left.

They were watching the show quietly, Hinata's head resting on Genma's shoulder, both quite content in their position, someone (like Ino) might have mistaken this position for something else, but they both knew perfectly well how they saw each other.

Both nin turned their head and instinctively reached for their kunai resting against there legs in case of emergency, when they heard a door creak. When they saw who it was, they stopped reaching for their weapons and sat up, wondering what Sasuke would want, after hiding for over an hour and now suddenly appearing with his ever-present scowl on his face.

He barely acknowledged them when heading towards the kitchen, they both presumed he was hungry, and now when she thought about it, she was hungry too.

"You hungry?" Hinata asked her companion, wondering if she maybe should make dinner for all of them, it could make the whole awkward situation a bit better she reasoned.

"Hm, a bit actually, but you don't have to make dinner just because that brat is hungry" Genma assured her, she only stood up with a soft smile and headed towards the kitchen, there she found the Uchiha searching every cupboard for food, it didn't seem like he had ever been in that particular kitchen before and she wondered how he had gotten food so far, however she quickly forgot that thought when he spoke to her.

"What are you doing here, I don't need help." He spoke angrily while glaring at her. She felt herself shrink under his gaze, but then remembered that she was more confident now, and that she was the one in charge here, not him.

She surprised him, that she could actually speak without the annoying stutter she had had when she was still in the academy, yes he still remembered her, she was the only girl who did not have a crush on him, thanking Kakashi for being considerate when picking out a babysitter.

She replied "I know you don't need help, but Genma and me are also hungry, so I figured I could make dinner for all of us, or if you want to make something for just yourself its fine too" She replied weakly, thinking _'I am in charge'_ over and over again.

"Hn" was his reaction, before heading out the kitchen and she heard a door slamming, which she presumed was his bedroom door, she assumed this meant that he wanted dinner as well, and she started on making some riceballs.

Not much later Genma joined her in the kitchen, asking her if she needed help with anything, after making a bit of small talk about how his current girlfriend was (turns out that things were not turning out well, and he was going to end it, no big surprise there right?:P), and a bit about her training and missions, before he went back to the TV (the scene where Izzie was stripping was coming up.)

Hinata continued making dinner, being almost done with the saus they would eat together with the riceballs. She hoped Genma and Sasuke didn't hate her cooking skills, she continued her cooking while softly singing to herself, one of the songs she only sings while cooking, the one her mom used to sing to her when they were baking ginger bread, a sad smile covered her face remembering her mom, her hands never faltered from making dinner.

In the mean time Genma had finished watching Izzie stripping and was now watching the last parts of the episode, he didn't even look up when Sasuke came and sit in one of the chairs in the living room, not showing his surprise of the young Uchiha watching Greys Anatomy. I mean who would expect the young Uchiha avenger to like to watch a sappy tv-show with almost no violence?

"-Is she almost done with dinner?" the stoic Uchiha asked with a deep voice, looking very annoyed.

"If you want your dinner quicker go make it yourself, she is not some proffessional cook here just to serve you, you know?" Genma lazily replied, irritation could be heard in his voice because of the Uchiha brat.

"Hmpf! I only asked a normal question, and what's with you jumping up in her defense immediately, is she your girlfriend or something? Didn't know you to be such a pervert to go for underage girls, nevertheless the ugly ones" Now Sasuke was openly smirking yet still glaring at the older shinobi, trying to push his limits. He did not actually think Hinata was ugly, he barely had taken a look at her, only seeing her wear some baggy sweaters, thus assuming she was a bit chubby. However, that was not the point, the point was too see how Genma would react. And he found out quickly -

- Genma jumped up, grabbing Sasuke at his collar and pressed him against the wall, Sasuke was midly surprised with the strong reaction he got, nevertheless he did not mind, he was only hoping that Genma would mess up and hit him, so he could have an excuse to fight someone, it killed him that he was barely allowed to spar, only when someone was guarding him, and even then they didn't really want him to keep his powers up properly, in case he decided to go all evil / emo again.

Genma glared that would even have an ANBU-captain's smile falter, he spoke with a growl "Fine you go and insult me with whatever comment you make, but if you even **dare** to insult Hinata in my presence one more time, I'll make sure no one in this village will recognize you ever again, you will be deemed an outcast, no matter that you are friends with that Uzumaki-brat, no matter if you are friends with the fucking hokage, it will not help you. So I advice you to shut your trap and wait nicely on your dinner, and even if it tastes shit you will act like you like it, because if you don't, if you hurt Hinata's feelings then I will - "

He never got to finish his threat since at that moment a honey-sweet voice spoke "Genma, S-Sasuke, dinner is ready!".

Genma let go of Sasuke, and he fell on his feet with a soft thump. Genma turned his back on him and walked to the kitchen to help Hinata, making sure that she would not notice anything different as he release his anger. Sasuke stared at the retreating back with mild interest, wondering what the hell made a jounin act like that because of a little insult towards a simple kunoichi. He could definetly see nothing special about her.

Sasuke didn't understand at all, the rage he had seen in Genma's face. He knew that the insinuation of a relationship between the two was based on nothing, he knew it couldn't be true since he had seen Genma with other women and from things Kakashi had told himw hen he thought that Sasuke wasn't even listening, but this new piece of information definetly made him rethink the whole relationship.

It was also interesting since right before Kakashi had left on his so-calle date, he had interrupted his relaxing-ALONE-in-his-room-to-be-by-HIMSELF to warn him to behave around the Hyuuga, he had never been warned before, and he had been left around plenty of different people, all from Sakura to Asuma to Tenten, and never once had he been warned.

_"Hmm, this is interesting"_ The young Uchiha thought while staring at Hinata quietly laughing at one of Genma's joke as she put the food on the table. He walked into the room, not feeling the need to have Genma become pissed of again for not "liking" Hinata's food or something, thus he ate in silence, looking down at the table, thinking and reflecting over his time in Konoha so far, yet he found his thoughts drifting back to the Hyuuga-heiress several times during dinner.

**Here is another chapter, I am sorry for not have updated sooo long, it is because test-week came up, and then other stuff came up, and yes, now it is Christmas Break, about time don't you think. I will update a couple of times during the coming weeks, I will try to write a bite veryday, and then post a chapter every 4-7 days, but we shall see, I have to work as well (unexpected, but Im happy about it, earning money FTW!:P), anyways, I hope you guys like the chapter, I might work on it a bit more sometime this week, since I haven't really gone through it carefully, and some part might be really bad, whatever, you tell me**

**Review please:P**

**Huggies until next time....**

**- HyuugaAE**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 - **

Sasuke, Genma and Hinata were now walking towards the Hyuuga Compound, it was almost 1.00 am and none of them were in a particular good mood.

Kakashi had decided not to show up, and at a certain point, they had all decided it was enough, Genma figured he should probably bring Hinata home before about 50 aggressive Hyuuga nin would be jumping around Konoha to get their Heiress back, and punish the one responsible.

Thus, leading to them all walking there now, Hinata of course, felt like a burden, she tried to argue that she didn't need anyone to walk her home, she was after all a jounin, but the soft-spoken Hyuuga could not resist such a persistent male as Genma, who would hear none of it. And Sasuke had to, of course, come along because of his punishment.

It was chilly outside, Hinata wrapped her arms around herself and didn't think of it any more, she only payed attention to the stars. It was something she often enjoyed doing, gazing at the stars was one of the things she did very often, her thoughts often leading back to her mother, who was the first one to show her the fascinating world of stars. After her mother passed away, Hinata often continued watching while softly talking to herself, as if her mother was there to listen to her. It was one of the only times she allowed herself to think about her mother, only when she was utterly alone. It was something she was very keen on, to keep that part of her a secret, even though many of the people she knew, knew about it. It was something very private to her, and no one would disrupt that, especially no relative.

Hinata continued gazing at the stars, recognizing a few that her mom had pointed out to her when she was a little girl. No one spoke while walking in silence, after about 10 minutes Hinata did a quick scan with her Byakugan around the surroundings and she repeated it every now and then, a habit she got from going on mission, where she always played a major part of defense when in foreign countries.

No one would watch their back, so they made sure she checked the surroundings now and then, so they woudln't be surprised by low class ninja, of course, since she couldn't check the surroundings always (Saving chakra ppl!), it was basically more like a filter. Filter away the unworthy rogue nin, the thieves and the low class criminals. Sometimes they still needed to battle those, but they were usually very easy to get out of the way, especially since Hinata knew they were coming, and could warn the rest of her group members, who would then be prepared to take them out quick but silently.

Sasuke walked, slouching with his hands in his pocket, with a scowl on his face. He really didn't understand why he specifically had to come here, I mean, he came back to Konoha on his own accord right? So shouldn't they trust him on not running away immediately. Well he wasn't about to argue with that bastard of a Shiranui, thinking he is so almighty to have a bit of power over him, and being all cuddly with the Hyuuga. Maybe it really wasn't a dumb implication of the nature of their relationship, the kind of stares he kept giving the unaware heiress. (Protective brother, it is after all 1.00 am)

"shit!" Hinata cussed lowly, alerting Sasuke and Genma immediately, since she never _ever_ cussed.

Genma seemed to understand the situation immediately because he ran forward to Hinata and took her arm, asking her where they were, how many and how far-

The questions didn't make sense to Sasuke who then took a better look at the Hyuuga, noticing she had her Byakugan activated, and seemingly stared into nothingness, while speaking in a soft tone to Genma, so soft that Sasuke who was a few meters from the two could not hear what she said.

He found himself actually interested in what she was saying, since it seemed to be upsetting her a bit, Sasuke tried listening in, but he didn't want to **seem** interested, or anything like that. He had a reputation to keep. He just stood there silently observing the two, seeing the Hyuuga heiress put her messenger bag on the ground, while continuing speaking with the older nin.

Sasuke started guessing about the nature of the interuption of their quiet walk and reached for his katana, only to realise he did not have it. _'Fuck this stupid punishment, well I can manage without, Kami they really have to make it hard to like it here, don't they?"_ Sasuke silently cursed to himself.

In the distance Sasuke saw Genma nod quickly, affirming he heard Hinata. Already busy fiddling with a few senbon in his mouth, and taking out more weapons in the process. Sasuke felt a wave of air coming towards him, and he quickly raised his hand to take the kunai flying towards him, stopping it only a few inches from his face.

He looked up, narrowing his eyes when he saw where it came from, he gave a glare at Genma, waiting for an explanation for the sudden attack at him.

"Hinata has spotted nin closing in on us, 12 of them, they come from the cloud, enemy nin. I don't have a katana, I know it's your favourite, but a kunai will have to do to protect yourself, if you even think about running away, I will hunt you down and bury you alive, so be aware."

Before Sasuke even had the chance to acknowledge what Genma had said, they were interrupted by a soft voice speaking sternly. "They are here."

Both men moved into their unique fighting stances, both seeing Hinata already standing in her gentle-fist stance.

Withing seconds after they had positioned themselves, they found themselves surrounded.

Sasuke immediately recognized the rain-insignia on the men's forehead protectors, there were 12 men in total he quickly counted. About four men each.

_'It shoudln't be too hard, they look to be about jounin level though, I know Shiranui can probably handle his own, the only problem would be the Hyuuga-girl, she is probably barely Chuunin level, thus she will need assistance, fuck..., Well it is a way to get into her good graces, and maybe she can tell the Hokage of my 'good behaviourä in saving her... fine, it might be a convenient situation for me... so troublesome'_ Sasuke thought quickly, analysing the situation.

"What is your business here?" Genma asked with a voice of authority.

The men just stood there and stared, waiting for their leader to speak. One of the men stepped forwards after a few seconds, the man was wearing the rain-insignia on his clothes and his forehead protector. He wore the rain's regular ninja gear, grey sweatpants and a dark green shirt, instead of the traditional chuunin-vest which was common in the leaf and sand he wore a short-sleeved jacket, which was zipped up about halfway. Sasuke noted that the Leaf-ninja had a much better choice of gear.

Not that he really cared anyway. But if you are gonna kill, you better kill in style, was one thing he always believed in.

"If you value your life, I suggest you better hurry off and leave the girl here, then we won't do harm to you and the boy." The man who was obviously the leader spoke.

_'Shit, they want the Byakugan again, didn't they learn anything from their last attempt? Well they don't realise that we have an Uchiha here, that will give us an advantage.'_ Genma quickly thought.

He gave a quick glance towards Hinata and saw that she had an indifferent expression on her face, looking as she did not just hear that the large group of men, currently surrounding them, were after her.

"I believe you are the ones who should get out of here, before we crush you to pieces, and don't you dare ever come back and show your faces again." Genma said with a growl to the men surrounding them, some of them started to chuckle while their leader merily raised an eyebrow, one hand reaching for his ninjaken, which was sheathed on his back.

He brought out the ninjaken, with an incredible speed, but nothing the Konoha nin weren't used to, the man didn't stop his movement and the Ninjaken was almost connecting with Genma's shoulder, before he suddenly dropped the lethal weapon and cried out in pain.

All his subordinates turned their heads quickly, checking out what was wrong with their oh-so-powerful leader, and what they saw shocked them all. Their leader had a kunai embedded in his wrist, the point sticking out on the other side.

They all turned to the direction where the kunai came from, and realised it came from the center of the circle, where they saw one of the raven haired teenagers stand their with a face so indifferent they might have believed that he had not just witnessed the whole scene which had just been, much less caused it.

"Don't you dare lay your hand on a Konoha nin" The raven haired teen spoke through gritted teeth, which was the only thing betraying that he was not completely indifferent.

Inwardly both Hinata and Genma were surprised, who would have thought that the last Uchiha would actually stick up for Konoha nin, and not just save his own little butt.

After this everything happening was such a big blurr that no one could really tell what was going on, except in their immediate surroundings.

The group of ninja surrounding the three Konoha nin, quickly dispelled and started attacking in groups on the three nin who were already in their own unique battle stances.

Four nin quickly approached Sasuke as he activated his sharingan, his eyes glowing a dark red. He ducked as he saw a foot coming in the direction of his head, and grabbed the foot in mid-air twirling it around and kicking the attacking nin right in his stomach, sending him flying into a tree. _'One down'_ he quickly thought, more time he did not have before the other three nin approached him.

He decided to take things into his own hands, figuring it was better to start attacking instead of waiting for them to do something. He approached one of the enemy nin, who backed away, frightened of his red eyes with the swirling tomoes. The man was quickly backed into a tree, where Sasuke approached him with his inhuman speed, quickly pressing a few fingers into the neck of the enemy nin, whereafter the nin fell to the ground.

At that exact moment the other nins had had enough and Sasuke dodged three shiruken which were flying through the leaves of the tree, right after he had dodged them, he had to jump to avoid the man coming from beneath the ground. The man still sitting in the tree, made a few hand signs, not unoticed by Sasuke.

The man who was just avoided by sasuke, the one coming from the ground, was quickly taken care of as Sasuke got in a well aimed punch, and the man was knocked out, unconscious.

The raven haired teen was now becoming frustrated, he only knocked out his opponents, he kind of didn't mind if he actually harmed them a bit more, also in the back of his mind a voice whispered to him that he should check on his guards (or supervisors as Tsunade would like to call them.)

He ran over to the tree where the shiruken which were thrown previously had hit. He pulled the three out, and turned around to search for the chakra signal of the last of the nin. A grey fog had come into the clearing, probably the work of that fourth nin Sasuke thought, finding it really stupid since his sharingan would help him anyway.

He looked around, quickly finding the fourth nin, hiding in a small bush about 30m from the tree Sasuke was standing at. Sasuke threw the shuriken, only to appear right behind the other nin, he used the shuriken as a distraction to come right from the back of the nin, who was now quickly jumping backwards, right into Sasuke, to avoid the shuriken.

"Got ya, this will teach you not to mess with Konoha" Sasuke growled, and then grabbed the enemy nin's head from the back, and twisted it quickly, hearing a snap and then letting go, satisfied with his work.

He walked back to the road where they had first been attacked, realising that he had gotten away a little bit. He breathed in a few times, ready to battle some more ninja, it had after all, barely taken 5 minutes for him to take care of those nin, and he must admit that he fought very slow and below his standard doing it.

Returning to the road, he had to quickly mask his surprise at finding both Hinata and Genma leaning against a tree, with all the other nin lying either unconscious or dead on the ground. Genma was breathing a little heavy, but to his major surprise the Hyuuga was barely out of breath.

He looked around at the site of the battle, seeing a small crater with around it 6 unconscious/dead ninja (he couldn't determine if they were all dead from that distance), there were two more bodies lying around, one against a tree, and another lying on his stomach with his head distorted, leading Sasuke to believe that the man had suffered a quick death by getting his neck snapped, much like the way he had treated his last nin himself.

Deducing from the sight before him, he figured that the two nin separated from the rest of the nin was Hinata's work, and the other six were victims of Shiranui's technique, it made sense to him that the nin would try and get rid of the elder nin first, before going after the weak heiress, what he couldn't quite comprehend was, what kind of technique would leave a crater and also blow away six nins in one go, for that must be what had happened.

Hinata and Genma had now noticed Sasuke's return and Genma continued their walk towards the Hyuuga mansion, Hinata followed soon after and both expected Sasuke to follow after the both of them.

The rest of the walk was silent, while all of them were concentrating on their own thoughts.

Hinata on how she would tell her father that Cloud had once again made an attempt on her life, and her eyes.

Genma on how this would lead Konoha into an international conflict.

Sasuke on what kind of technique Genma had, figuring it would be worth copying with his sharingan.

As they walked in silence, they all shared similar thoughts. _'Damn (or in Hinata's case, "Too bad") we have to deal with the Hokage about this...'_

**I know it is a bit late, and Im just not going to say a specific date for my next update, but I hope this chapter was ok, Im not really sure if I liked it myself, Im not good in fighting scenes, this chapter was quite useless, but its important for later, the whole conflict with Cloud and also Sasuke's thoughts about Hinata's strength.**

**Please review, it makes me happy!:D**

**Take Care (and oh yeah! Happy New Year everyone; Better late then never right?)**


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